Motorcycle Brain Teasers And Trivial Historical Silliness

[Hugh Janus]

Editor’s Note: Quarantine and the lack of track time is weighing heavy on our man Nick. Maybe he’s cracking? Maybe he’s always been cracked. Either way, he’s stepped away from his in-depth tutelage this week for some lighthearted trivia. Sometimes you have to mix it up. So here’s Nick throwing a curveball at you. I know I chuckled at more than a few of these.

This week, I’ve searched back through my faded memory to create a trivia test with some brain teasers thrown in. Answers—at least my version of the answers—are listed below the questions. And remember: Words are important, read questions carefully.

<b>1: When John visits Ted he must park his bike in the driveway to open the gate, then again to close the gate. When John rides his Buell 1125CR he taps the sidestand with his foot a few times before putting it up. When he rides his BMW R1150RT he doesn’t bother tapping the sidestand. Why?</b> (Nick Ienatsch /)

Because Ted’s driveway is gravel and the sidestand foot grabs the rocks and flings them up as John kicks the stand up. On the Buell, those rocks land directly on the drive belt… No problem on the BMW shaftie.

2: How many times did AMA National Champion Miguel Duhamel “do the double”: win both Saturday’s and Sunday’s AMA Superbike races?

Never, there were only Sunday finals in MD’s day.

<b>3: When John Kocinski won the 1990 AMA 250 national championship on the Honda RS250, who was the only rider to beat him?</b> (Courtesy of Öhlins/)

John won the ’87, ’88, and ’89 AMA 250GP national championships, and he was on the Yamaha TZ250.

4: Is it possible to win the AMA Superbike national championship without winning a race? If so, who has done it?

Yes, Ben Bostrom.

5: At what dirt track did Freddie Spencer famously win on the Yamaha TZ750?

<em>Never happened, that was King Kenny Roberts at the Indy Mile.</em> (Motorcyclist /)

6: When Suzuki changed to CV carburetors on its GS line for the ’79 model year, what ignition components were changed?

That’s a year too early… Suzuki’s GS line got CV carbs in 1980, along with electronic ignition.

<b>7: Why does Paul love giving his 15-year-old son rides on his 1995 Honda CBR1000F but refuses to give him rides on his 2009 BMW HP2 Sport?</b> (Nick Ienatsch /)

HP2 has a solo seat.

8: Harley-Davidson’s new swingarm has a piece that unbolts. How much time does this save during drive-chain swaps?

Yes, H-D’s latest swingarms unbolt to ease this swap—but it’s a drive belt, not a chain.

9: The Zero FXS electric-bike’s torque was breaking transmissions during Supermoto competition so the company enlarged the gear cogs and reduced the transmission from six gears to how many gears?

Zero FXS has no transmission.

<b>10: When <em>Cycle</em> magazine reported a top speed of 148 mph in sixth gear for the all-new 1979 GS1000S Wes Cooley replica, claiming great aerodynamic improvements from the handlebar-mounted bikini fairing, why were the readers skeptical?</b> (Nick Ienatsch /)

Those GSs had five speeds.

11: Kevin Cameron bought a British-built Barton two-stroke roadracer and substantially revised it, including building his own frame, for AMA F1 competition. What year did he race it?

<em>Wrong genius—Eric Buell raced his RW750 in AMA F1 competition.</em> (Cycle World Archives/)
<b>When Micheal Czysz cut a Kawasaki ZX-10R engine in half for his C1 project, what was the angle of the new V-4 he created?</b> (Cycle World Archives/)

Czysz created a 15-degree V-4, but it was with a Suzuki GSX-R engine.

13: Rich Oliver had a perfect 1996 season in AMA 250 Grand Prix. His ’97 season began with four straight wins until I beat him at what track? Where did Rich finish that race?

<em>Yeah, um, I never beat Rich Oliver. He went undefeated in 1996, 1997, and 2003 on his Yamaha TZ250. Not seen in this picture: the entire national field behind Rich.</em> (Mystery School Collection/)

14: When Kenny Roberts Jr. won the 2001 MotoGP world championship, how many Americans had won that championship before him? Who?

First, KRJR won the world championship in 2000, and it wasn’t MotoGP yet, so no other American had won it.

<b>15: Peter Egan, of <em>Cycle World</em> fame, wrote eloquently about being stranded at the side of the road when a rock punctured the radiator of his Moto Guzzi El Dorado. What did Egan use to plug the coolant leak?</b> (Amazon /)

Guzzis are air-/oil-cooled.

<b>16: Kevin Cameron put Rich Schlachter on the AMA F1 podium with an all-night valve-and-cam swap that made Schlachter’s 750 almost unbeatable. What track and what year?</b> (Cycle World /)

Cameron and Schlachter raced TZs together—no valves or cams to swap in two-stroke engines.

17: What does Eddie Lawson say every time he drives past the shopping mall in Ontario, California?

“I hold the track record there.” When Ontario Motor Speedway closed and the mall was built, Fast Eddie’s track record was cemented.

18: Scott Russell, one of many motorcycle racers to win at a national level in cars, stood on top of the box with his Acura NSX. What year and what series?

It was a Corvette in the Rolex Sports Car series of 2010.

19: Suzuki’s RG500 inline four-cylinder two-stroke production bike is now legal to bring into America because?

</em>The RG500 was a square-four design, but because it is now 25 years old, we can own them here legally. Speedwerkes RG500 seen here.</em> (Nick Ienatsch /)
<b>20: What were the main advantages of Yamaha’s first V-twin TZ250 produced for the 1989 model year?</b> (Nick Ienatsch /)

The ’89 TZs were reverse-cylinder tandem twins… The V debuted in 1991. Darrell Meyer’s V-twin seen here.

21: Bob and Tom were on a ride when the oil drain plug came loose on Bob’s Honda Shadow. Bob couldn’t tighten the hot plug by hand tightly enough to stop the oil, and he didn’t have a tool kit with a 14mm wrench. He started to call his wife to bring the truck when Tom said he had his Harley-Davidson tool kit. Bob laughed and said his bike was metric and Tom’s was American. How can Tom fix the Shadow?

His H-D kit holds a 9/16th wrench…14mm.

<b>22: What does the X surrounded by the arrow on Marc Márquez’s helmet signify?</b> (MotoGP/)

That’s Jorge Lorenzo’s helmet, and it means “Around the outside”—a common passing move by a young Lorenzo.

23: Why did Wayne Gardner debut the first thumb brake?

He didn’t—that was Mick Doohan after a severe injury to his right leg.

24: Don Sakakura was the Yoshimura team manager when Wes Cooley won the AMA Superbike championship in 1980. Who was Sakakura’s replacement in the Tony Elias years?

Nobody, it was still Sakakura running the show.

25: When Suzuki introduced the GSX-R750 in 1985 (’86 in America), the engineers saved weight by removing what from the instrument cluster?

<em>The first 2,900 rpm indications… It was a joke at the time.</em> (Nick Ienatsch /)

26: Cal Crutchlow is the only current MotoGP rider to have raced 500GP and MotoGP. What 500 GP bike did he last race?

<em>Wrong rider—it’s Valentino Rossi.</em> (Yamaha /)
<b>27: Bob bought a new 1975 Suzuki GT750 and bragged to his friends that it was so reliable that “all I ever do is fill the fuel tank and ride!” After the ninth tank of fuel the GT blew up, why?</b> (badbuffalogarage/)

The GT750 is a two-stroke and Bob never filled the oil-injection tank! And “blew up” is such a four-stroke term. Two-strokes squeak, seize, tighten up, stick. Sean Eviston’s Bad Buffalo seen here.

<b>27: This Honda XR100 shifter is correctly positioned for its task. Why so high? And what other clue is in this picture?</b> (Nick Ienatsch /)

It’s high so the rider can get their boot and steel shoe under it. The other clue? Many riders mount a street tire to the back of their dirt track playbikes.

More next Tuesday!

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